Arabian Automobiles opens largest used car lot in UAE

by Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury | Mar 24, 2011

After recently introducing the first “manufacturer-approved Japanese brand certified pre-owned program” for Nissan in the UAE, Arabian Automobiles has opened the UAE’s largest used cars facility in a media event held yesterday. The company is the sole dealer for Nissan, Infiniti, Renault, ZNA and MG in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, and they have chosen to get into the used car business in a big way with this 7000 square-metre facility.

During the inauguration, the CEO of Arabian Automobiles claimed that their existing used car business grew by more than 40% last year, no doubt thanks to the recession. With the recent introduction of the Nissan Certified Pre-Owned program and the new facility on Sheikh Zayed Road housing cars from various brands, Arabian Automobiles is apparently preparing for the time when the new-car-to-used-car sales ratio will shift to a 1:1 ratio a few years down the road. According to their stats, current used car sales via showrooms are estimated to be around 100,000 a year, while new cars sold in the UAE numbered 223,000 last year.

This new used-car facility is one of several existing ones by Arabian Automobiles in the UAE. We purchased our “new” 2009 Renault Safrane long-termer from their outfit in the Aweer Used Car Market.

13 comments to Arabian Automobiles opens largest used car lot in UAE

It seems like the guys at Nissan did pretty well for themselves to be expanding this way, they are opening a new big showroom for Infinity on sheikh-zayed road as well (on the opposite side of the existing showroom)

By the way, is that canopy assembled using PVC textile material? Wonder is the whole thing can retract like an umbrella coz if not during the extremely limited but heavy rain falls that we have here in Dubai, looking at those sags, I can very well tell you that these guys are gonna have plenty of roof leakages and damage.

Pre owned cars here sold by dealers are overpriced, when you want to sell to them, they eat you with their greed, and if you are the buyer, you will find the price only 5 or 10 % less than the new, considering that the interest rate for used cars is higher, it will be almost the same of the new one, so why bother? Last time I went to check 2010 toyota aurion, it was fully loaded, the new one costs 125k, a used one with around 10k kilometers on the odo was priced at 115k ????? while if the car was mine and I want to sell to them they will give me 80-85k, so they are making profit in these even more than new cars I guess

I totally agree with Samer that approved used cars are priced way too high here in UAE. This is not the same in other markets such as the UK where mostly buying an approved used car is a good deal. I went to Ford once to ask about a used Ford Focus – new base model is selling for 61,000 dhrs with free servicing and insurance. They were selling second hand for AED 57,000 but the worst thing is they had one with 14,000kms and one with 5,000kms – they were both AED 57,000 ! He tried to tell me they were the same but there should be a difference in price to reflect the kms. Plus they tell you 20-25% depreciation in the first year which is known as pretty standard across the world. Yet they are selling for 5-10% depreciation. Granted it is from approved dealer but even in UK people get problems with approved used cars. This is the advantage of no competition and a small car market such as UAE.